Manhunter Cult
History Origin : The Manhunters are a Myth. - Manhunter chant. The Manhunters were a race of robotic androids that were created by the Guardians of the Universe as part of their initial attempts at creating an interstellar police force with which to combat evil all over the cosmos. They were modelled after the Manhunters of Mars with their code of behavior as well as naming coming from that race. After their creation, the Manhunters were provided with Energy Pistols as well as a Power Batteries that served as conduits to the Central Power Battery on Oa. Given a purpose, they were sent forth to bring justice and order in the universe which was a task that they had done so for thousands of years. Manhunters accompanied their creators to the Vega System in order to prevent Larfleeze as well as his gang from claiming the Orange Lantern Central Power Battery on Okaara from falling into wrong hands along with reclaiming a box that served as a prison for the Parallax Entity. Many of these Manhunters along with the Oans were destroyed when the Orange Light of Avarice was unleashed by Larfleeze though the threat of the event was contained with a treaty that prevented the Guardians from ever entering the Vega System. Following that time, the Manhunters cotninued their service though it was believed that in time they became more obsessed with "hunting" criminals rather than bringing justice. Eventually, their code of No Man Escapes The Manhunters became more important to them than achieving their programmed goal of enforcing justice. Whilst initially the Oans kept watch over their servants, they at some point lost contact with the Manhunters who they later assumed were destroyed during their operations. Rebellion There were at least two events that ultimately changed the Manhunters from their original purpose. The first was attributed to a problem with their core artificial intelligence units which brought about a glitch in their programming. This act led to the Manhunters believing that all beings within Space Sector 0666 needed to be liminated. As a result, this brought about the devastating events known as the Massacre of Sector 666 where the Manhunters exterminated all beings within the Space Sector turning worlds such as Ryut into dead planets. Only five sentients were known to had survived the purge conducted by the Manhunters who in turn became a group known as the Five Inversions that sought revenge against the Guardians for the actions of their servants. They in turn in time would form a mighty galactic empire known as the Empire of Tears that became bitterly opposed to the machinations of the Oans as a result. The second notable change came when all contact was lost with the Manhunters. During this time, the androids began to conspire against their creators in an attempt to forcibly claim the power within the Central Power Battery on Oa. The Guardians later attributed this change to being the result of being on foreign planets for so long that their mission became distorted as a result. The Manhunters were not alone in this goal as they included amongst their number organic sentient beings that were part of their ranks such as N'Lasa. When the Manhunters openly revolted and attacked the Guardians, it began a long war that lasted a thousand years which saw entire galaxies as well as races being destroyed in the conflict. Ultimately, the Manhunters struck against Oa itself seemingly by surprise and attempted to claim the power of the Central Power Battery. As they were charging their weapons, the Central Power Battery caused an overload that destroyed the Manhunters Energy Pistols thus disarming them. This revealed that the entire attack was an ambush by the Guardians who quickly dispatched and defeated the Manhunters on Oa. With the end of the rebellion, the Guardians decided to allow the Manhunters to survive but banished them from their service. The Oans later deemed that machines were incapable of serving their purposes as they were unable to feel emotions and thus tap into the energy of willpower which the Guardians employed. Following the defeat of the Manhunters, the Oans replaced them with the Halla and later with the Green Lantern Corps. In the mean time, the Manhunters retreated into the shadows where they made their own homeworld on Orinda where they plotted to get their vengeance against their creators. Coming of the Millennium Hiding on many worlds, the Manhunters slowly began to rebuild their forces whilst spreading their beliefs to others as part of their plan on getting revenge against the Guardians as well as their servants. Infiltrating many worlds whilst liberating others, the Manhunters masked their operations by forming the "Cult of the Manhunters" where lessons of preserving justice were taught at special hidden temples that attracted many followers who were ultimately unaware of the Manhunters android origins or their true intentions. This allowed the Manhunters to subvert these organic beings and turn them into agents to serve their will. One such site where they conducted such operations was the planet Earth where the Manhunters created a temple in the Himalayss that became their stronghold. During this time, the Manhunters were visited by one of their former conspirators in the ancient rebellion namely N'Lasa. Repetent over his crimes, he was now a servants of the Guardians who had arrived in order to take the leadership of the Manhunters by becoming their Grandmaster. However, he underestimated the machines leading to him being defeated by them though he managed to escape. N'Lasa tried once more to tame the Manhunters with the aid of specially trained warriors called the Jujin but this attempt also was a failure. This time, however, N'Lasa was captured and was to serve the Manhunters goals where they placed the alien in a stasis chambers whilst hooking his mind to a group consciousness whereupon experiments were conducted on him. During this era, the Manhunters began training their Human followers and subverting their minds in order to use them as sleeper agents in the future. This saw a number of agents modelling themselves as superheroes who took the name Manhunter where they wore the red-and-blue costumes that were patterned after their masters. Amongst the first of these was Paul Kirk who was active in the 1940s and seemingly died though he was actually placed in suspended animation whereupon he was cloned. Another agent in the 1990s was Mark Shaw who like his predecessors was completely unaware of the Manhunters being machines or their less than noble intentions for the future. In addition to their Human agents who either served them unaware of their true origins or were brainwashed; the Manhunters also used their own androids to take the persona of various beings. This allowed the machines to infiltrate even the ranks of the Olympian Gods where one of their number posed as the immortal being known as Pan whilst another infiltrated the ranks of the Rocket Red Brigade who later joined the Justice League of America. Sometime later, the Guardians of the Universe along with their Zamaron mates departed this universe for the next after failing to stop the Anit-Monitor during that cosmic beings attempt at destroying the Multiverse. Despite their departure, a single Oan by the name of Herupa Hando Hu and his Zamaron mate Nadia Safir arrived on Earth in order to bring about the Millennium event. This was a process where the two would select several Humans and enhance their evolution in order to bring about the New Guardians that would ultimately replace the Guardians in the future. The pair informed the superheroes of Earth of the Manhunters goal to prevent this from taking place. Following the defeat of the Manhunters, Mark Shaw adopted a new identity as a costumed hero called the Privateer though it was later revealed he was only using this time to commit crimes. He later returned to his Manhunter persona in order to redeem himself where his adventures led to him battling Dumas II and uncovered the lost legacy of the Manhunters after meeting with N'Lasa who proclaimed him a true Manhunter dedicated to the cause of justice. leading the Manhunters.]] Post-Emerald Twilight At some point, a single Manhunter was left adrift in space and in an inactive state. There, it was discovered by an alien starship which possessed advanced technology. After taking the Manhunter aboard, they studied it but left it in a stasis-like state until the ship was damaged. Reactivated, the Manhunter began making repairs to himself and later interfaced with the alien ship in order to get a spectral analysis of it. The advanced technology infused the Manhunter and endowned it with sentience. With both its unique sentience and technology, the Manhunter sought out his remaining brethren and similarly upgraded them in the process to the point that they all shared one consciousness; what one say or learnt, they all learnt. During this time, the Green Lantern Corps had been destroyed by Hal Jordan who had become the supervillain Parallax and struck against the Guardians which culminated in the destruction of the Central Power Battery on Oa. However, these Manhunters learnt that a single Green Lantern Power Ring existed and was used by Kyle Rayner of Earth. Thus, the Manhunters launched a robotic probe which abducted Rayner and took him to the Manhunter installation at the edge of the galaxy. There, they sought to use the Power Ring for their own purposes namely to use it as a power source as well as to further their evolution. Through the use of a techno-virus, tissue transplants and various mechanisms; the Manhunters intended to decieve the Power Ring into believing it still rested on Rayner's hand when it would be the Manhunters who would be using it. The Manhunters intended to use Kyle Rayner as a living transmitter to keep the Power Ring functioning for the androids own usage. However, when attempting to use it, the Manhunter using the Ring simply generated machine code. It was Rayner who revealed that the Power Ring needed a living sentient mind with willpower to make use of the device. As the Manhunters were machines, they lacked the necessary capabilities to make use of the Power Ring. Furthermore, as Rayner served as a living transmitter, he retained a link to his Power Ring and used it to free himself whereupon he attacked the Manhunters; destroying all within their space station. The last of the Manhunters, however, revealed that others of his kind still existed in the universe and they would know of this event. Rayner terminated the android and destroyed their space station before returning back to Earth. There, he told his adventure to John Stewart and confessed that he did not know how the Manhunters tracked him. Stewart suggested that since the Manhunters were creations of the Guardians of Oan, then its possible that the androids knew ways to track a Green Lantern energy signature. Sector 3601 and a New Grandmaster : " For millenia the Manhunters have tried to eradicate life, but their mission has changed thanks to me. We do not need to eradicate life, we just need to control it." - Hank Henshaw to Hal Jordan. When the Manhunters were replaced by the Green Lantern Corps, they retreated to Biot, their homeworld in Sector 3601, an uncharted area of space incapable of sustaining organic life. Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman, came to Biot and became the Manhunter's new Grandmaster. He used his mastery over machinery and Kryptonian technology to upgrade the Manhunters with organic enhancements along with the addition of a Power Battery within their bodies to forcibly steal Emotional Spectrum energies. Leading his Manhunters, he used them to capture various Green Lanterns who had vanished or believed amongst whom included the Lost Lanterns that were thought to had been killed in the aftermath of the destruction of Oa. With the Green Lantern Corps reformed, the Manhunters began using these unconscious Green Lanterns as power sources by placing Power Rings on them thus giving them a direct link to the Central Power Battery on Oa which had been reformed after its previous destruction by Hal Jordan as Parallax. Using this energy, they managed to reconstruct Biot to its fully glory as a factory assembly world that created many more Manhunters including new variants such as the Highmasters and Willhunters. The Manhunter populated on Biot managed to reach upto 40,3 billion androids that served their Grandmasters ambitions. Furthermore, Henshaw became privy to many secrets of the Guardians through the data link established with the Oan Central Power Battery. Amongst the acts committed by the new Manhunters was the elimination of threats to their power base. When a Millennium-era android known as Manhunter 1988.2814 was reactivated, the Grandmaster dispatched a Manhunter infiltrator to eliminate the unit as it did not comply with the Manhunters new directives. This unit travelled to Space Sector 2814 in a one way rocket ship which was discovered by Hal Jordan and John Stewart. The android later managed to find its predecessor and eliminated it by activating its self destruct mechanism. However, before it could depart Earth, Hal Jordan destroyed it and used its integrated Power Battery to recharge his Power Ring. Though aware of the reformation of the Green Lantern Corps and the rebirth of the Guardians, the Manhunters did not strike against their former masters as the Grandmaster believed that their plans were intricately linked to the re-establishment of the Corps. However, the actions of the Manhunter Cult were revealed when the imprisoned Lantern Tomar-Tu managed to escape Biot and crash on Earth where he was retrieved by Jordan. Hal Jordan went against the orders of the Guardians and took Guy Gardner with him to Biot where they discovered the Manhunters were active as well as now under the control of Hank Henshaw. Revealing their new power, Jordan managed to rescue many of the captive Lanterns and took control of a Highmaster with Arisia's help which they used to destroy Biot seemingly defeating the Manhunters along with their Grandmaster. Sinestro Corps War Following the destruction of Biot, the Manhunters seemingly vanished whilst their Grandmaster Hank Henshaw was captured by the Guardians of the Universe in order to probe him of the secrets he knew whilst within both Space Sector 3601 and the Source Wall. His incarceration ended during the sudden emergence of the Sinestro Corps who struck at Oa itself and freed both Hensaw as well as Superman Prime along with ensuring that the Parallax Entity would be freed following a certain chain of events. With Henshaw freed, the Manhunters quickly moved to his side and accompanied him to the Anti-Matter Universe where they served alongside the Sinestro Corps who worked under the direction of Sinestro's new master; the Anti-Monitor. The Guardian of Fear had selected Sinestro, Henshaw, Parallax and Superman Prime as the Heralds of The Anti-Monitor with the intention of using them to lead his armies in the conquest of the multiverse. As part of this new alliance, the Manhunters were now upgraded to serve as mobile Qwardian Power Batterys used to recharge the Qwardian Power Ring's of Sinestro Corpsmen. With plans set in motion, the Sinestro Corps War engulfed the cosmos with the Manhunters being deployed on their new homeworld namely the mobile planetoid known as Warworld. Hundreds of Manhunters were stored within the mobile starship which later became the home of the Qwardian Central Power Battery after its removal from Qward. This was so it could be transported to the Positive Matter Universe during an assault on Earth. The Manhunters later accompanied their Grandmaster during the attack on the planet where, during the Battle of Earth, they served as infantry that battled not only the Justice League but also the Justice Society as well as the Teen Titans. Their assault ended when the Qwardian Central Power Battery was detonated on the Anti-Monitor which was an act that not only saw the destruction of Warworld but brought about the destruction of many Manhunters as well as the seeming death of Hank Henshaw as his body was ripped apart in the explosion. In the aftermath of the battle, a number of active Manhunters discovered the corpse of their Grandmaster and decided to restore him to life in order to fulfill his role as their leadership program. Empowering the body with cosmic energy, they returned the severed head of Henshaw back to life much to his dismay. Afterwards, a number of Manhunters found and fought the Green Lantern Harvid in Space Sector 2973. However, they were defeated by the newly created Alpha Lantern Boodikka who activated a programming which shut the androids down. The Blackest Night During The Blackest Night, the Black Lantern Corps rose from the dead and waged war against the living in order to claim the emotional energy from their bodies. The prime focus of this attack was against Earth where several dead supervillains and superheroes returned. The Suicide Squad and the Secret Six both came under attack from the Black Lanterns but Amanda Waller was informed by the Flash that emotional energy was capable of severing the contact the dead had with their Black Lantern Power Rings. To that end, she contacted one of her secret labs where she had her scientists quickly reactivate a damaged Manhunter android that was recovered from the swamps. The machines brain was too badly damaged but contained some amount of Green Light within it. Using a remote control helmet, Waller used the android to attack the Black Lanterns and detonated the android where the overload of energy destroyed the Black Power Rings thus defeating the threat posed by them. Its later revealed that after the Manhunters reformed their Grandmaster Hank Henshaw; he became so enraged at their actions that he simply deactivated them. Having been so close to achieving oblivion, he had been denied his wish and instead drifted into space where he unwittingly stummbled on Earth during the Blackest Night. There, he saw the Black Lantern Corps and his dead wife but all of them ignored him. He later went to the Black Lantern Central Power Battery and saw Nekron; Lord of the Unliving himself. Knowing this to be the grim reaper himself, Henshaw demanded Nekron give him the death he wanted but just like the Black Lanterns - Nekron ignored him. It was then he learnt the reason why; the Black Lanterns desired the hearts of the living and Henshaw had no heart to give them. Thus, he returned to space and reactivated the Manhunters to keep him company if all life in the universe was going to end. There, he met a mysterious figure who told him of the Alpha Lantern Corps that would be the key to his salvation and in exchange for this information; this being desired the Manhunters which Henshaw happily gave over to the entity in order to be rid of them. Chant The Manhunters usually chant the phrase, "No man escapes the Manhunters," which is heard on the Justice League cartoon series as well. Coincidentally, underneath their masks lies a chalky white skin, and their secret Earth base of operations was in Louisiana, a state with historic roots of voodoo, during the Millennium series. Manhunters have had a mixture of oaths over the years: "No evil escapes the Manhunters!", "Death to the Green Lantern Corps!", and "No man escapes the Manhunters!" Mark Shaw during his pledge to kill Dumas uttered his own version of the chant that said "Our enemies fear the face of steel, the will to this cold visage anneals, I am the face of justice revealed! No mman escapes the Manhunters!" Technology The Manhunters were android machines that contained an artificial intelligence unit that directed their actions; it was this aspect of their design that was deemed flawed by the Guardians which led to them being failed creations. The CPU and AI processor was highly complex for Human science to reverse engineer. It was known that it was not possible for a Power Ring to unlock the binary code of a Manhunter android in a short time frame as such a process required six point seven hours. Individual Manhunter androids possessed a self destruct system which was extremely powerful in not only destroying the unit in question but anything surrounding it. This had been described as having the destructive potential of a nuclear weapon being detonated. Following the events of Millennium, a Manhunter was reactivated and assimilated the advanced technology of an alien ship which later led to the androids possessing a group consciousness allowing any single unit to be aware of the knowledge as well as actions of another unit. Manhunters were also seen capable of adopting a terrestrial camouflage allowing them to disguise themselves as members of other races and thus hid their mechanical nature but if damaged, this external "skin" was able to be discarded. Later era Manhunter models were also seen to possess Power Batteries located beneath the faceplate and located in their heads allowing them to forcibly steal any form of Emotional Spectrum energy or use it to energize a Power Ring. This was achieved through the influex of Kryptonian technology that was incorporated into their bodies that allowed them access to the Central Power Battery on Oa which they used as a power soiurce. Elements of Manhunter technology was later used in the creation of the OMAC drones on Earth. They are also now fueled by organic blood and have a power battery installed in their head to drain the power from ring users. Also several new classes of Manhunters have been created during Henshaw's tenure as Grandmaster. These new types of Manhunters are: The Highmasters: large hulking Manhunters with captured Green Lantern Corps members encased in their stomachs to fuel their power. They have the ablity to destroy planets as demonstrated when Hal Jordan and Arisia used one to destroy Boit. The Willhunters: Nanotech bots that when injected into a body can convert organics into cybernetic Manhunters. This process was only used once so far when the Cyborg Superman injected willhunters into Hal Jordan. Jordan fought the infection through will power. Allies *Sinestro Corps *Manhunter Agents Enemies *Green Lantern Corps *Darkstars *Justice League of America *Justice Society of America Equipment Transportation *Flight Weapons *Various Built in weapons *Energy Pistol *Power Baton In Other Media *The Manhunters have appeared in the Justice League episode "In Blackest Night", where they were voiced by James Remar. Like their comic counterparts, they were the first before the Lantern Corps. But when they couldn't discriminate good from evil, the Oans reprogrammed them for other tasks such as hunting, guarding, they didn't seem to object, at least, not out loud. The Manhunters bring Green Lantern John Stewart to trial for accidentally destroying the planet Ajuris 4. It is later revealed that the planet's destruction was faked with the help of Kanjar Ro as part of the Manhunters' plan to overthrow the Oans and taken the Corps' power source, which they believe is rightfully theirs. When five of the Oans came to testify for John, the Manhunters took advantage to attack Oa. The Justice League, assisted by the Corps, battled them. The Manhunter who was apparently their leader made it to the power source and absorbed all its energy, draining power from the rings and the Oans. The Manhunter shed his metallic form and grew to immense size. John managed to defeat him by chanting the Lantern oath, absorbing the hunter into his ring and expels him out. This was based on the comics story No Man Escapes The Manhunters, which appeared in Justice League of America #140-141 (1977). Notes *Mark Shaw was a former member of the Manhunter Cult. *The Manhunter Chant is "No Man Escapes The Manhunters!" Trivia *Manhunter technology has been used in the creation of the OMAC drones. *The Kryptonian technology was incorporated into the Manhunters by Hank Henshaw on Biot, which enabled them to use the Central Power Battery on Oa as a power source for the Manhunters. Links *http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Manhunter_Cult Category:Sinestro Corps Members Category:Species Category:Teams